While much has been made about last year’s website troubles in the online rollout and implementation of President Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC) is touting the use of virtual agents for a “more engaging online experience for its members to meet the needs of members.”

This week, prospective Blue KC insurers can navigate online to find consolidated group and individual account information and ask a variety of billing, policy or insurance coverage questions — such as, “Where can I view my bill?” — and get answers in similar, natural language. The self-service platform, developed by IntelliResponse, is indeed meant to create a better user experience for healthcare customers.

“Our new website was designed with our members in mind. We want to ensure users can quickly and easily navigate to find the information they seek,” said Deb McCabe, Department Vice President of Customer Experience at Blue KC. “The IntelliResponse Virtual Agent solution will help us respond to the changing interests and needs of our customers.”

According to the announcement, Blue KC plans to develop a mobile website and consumer portal that will be customized to tap the knowledge base of both group and individual healthcare customers.

Categories: Conversational Intelligence, Intelligent Assistants, Articles, Mobile + Location

Tags: customer care, healthcare, intelligent assistant